Monday, January 22, 2018

interview: Empiresfall

Empiresfall is a veteran thrash metal band from Germany that has been around for about a decade. They are probably new to American thrash fans, but the band hits all the buttons at the right time for their style of rough-and-ready real thrash. This year 2018 they have a new album called A Piece to the Blind. The album will be released the 2nd of February. Find out more about the band in this interview with founding member Franky (guitar and vocals).

Hello! Is it correct that Empiresfall began in 2008? Please tell us who the members are.

Hey ho dude. My name is Franky from the German metal band Empiresfall. Yes, its almost true that the band Empiresfall started in 2008. The first show was in 2009. That stage appearance, to me, was the birth of Empiresfall.

The line-up of Empiresfall is:

Franky-vocals/guitars

Mad - guitars

Dennis - bass guitar

Nico-drums

I am the one who started the band, and I am the only one left :)

How is life in the city of Hamburg for the thrash metal of Empiresfall? Did a particular Hamburg concert inspire the formation of the band?

Well, I think Hamburg is a really good place to be if you like music in general. It doesn’t really matter if you’re in rap, pop music or metal. It’s a city with music all around. Many pubs, many clubs and a few really good places where you can play shows. Hamburg is not really far away from Wacken. So I think it’s a nice city for every metalhead.

Of course, I’ve seen many shows from many different metal bands before I had the idea to start a metal band. But actually it was not a show I’ve seen live that brought me to the idea. I have seen the Metallica show 89, live in Seattle;) on tape. That blow me away. The riffing of James was so fast at that time. And his voice was brilliant. He was definitely drunk at that show. But to me, seeing this show was like, “Ah ok. I can do this, too. I start a band :D

Given that Empiresfall is a thrash band, do you have any old and new favorites?

Oh man, there are so many bands I like. Old thrash bands, for example: Onslaught, Exumer, Kreator, Sodom, Venom. New thrash bands I like, for example: Comaniac, Havok, Crisix or Chronosphere. There are just to many bands out there.

Why is the name of your new recording A Piece to the Blind?

Well, A Piece to the Blind is like a piece of advice. There are so many things in the world right now going totally wrong. And it’s really sad that not enough people have the guts to stand up and fight for their right to be free, to be an individual. It seems like more than 80% of humanity are satisfied by being generated and under control. Maybe it’s because it’s way more easier to follow. Maybe.

To us those people are the blind. So the record is a kind of a wake up call for those blind people. That could be a version of an interpretation for A Piece To The Blind. It was definitely one of the idea or the motivation for our new stuff.

So, in your opinion, what is the situation in Germany for the working classes and how do you all in the band see it?

The situation in Germany has definitely changed. I’m not really sure how the U.S. or the rest of the world is seeing the situation in Germany. But I can tell that the German government is actually more a comedy show or a bad roadmovie. Sometimes. Everyone has to pay more and more taxes and fees. It’s like, obey, pay taxes, like to be controlled and pay more taxes and fees for everything. It sucks. It’s time for a huge change.

Being a thrash band, how do you balance using technology and keeping the music real? Did everyone from the band record in the same studio?

That’ s a good question man :D. Well, as I started the band, I had the idea of a band with a pure sound. So that means no effects. Many guitar players like cry baby, wah wah, distortion pedals or even kemper shit. The only effect pedal you will find in Empiresfall, is on Mad’s guitar solo. And that’s it. Real drums, real bass, real guitars and amps and real voice with just a little echo.

I think it’s boring that almost every band wants to sound like someone else. I’ve seen live shows where guitar players had more than 25 effect pedals activated on stage. Guys, please play guitar and stop the tapdance on stage :D.

We all recorded the whole record at Soundlodge Studio. We have been there about 2 weeks. It’s a very nice place to be for a band. And all instruments where recorded separately.

And how many guitars did use you in the studio?

Mad did just used one guitar for his rhythm parts. And so did I. All guitars solos have been recorded with the same guitar. That’s the truth :)

The artwork is gruesome. Looks like mental and physical torture for the purposes of manipulation. What feelings did you want with the cover? Who did the artwork?

Yeah, the cover artwork is really the bomb :D
and yes, you got it totally right. There were a few things I had in mind as I thought about the artwork. The first one was the birth of our mascot. His name is Ricky Butler. He was on the first EP and later merged inside our band logo. I always wanted him to rise as a character. I thought about an laboratory where people are kept in stasis tubes to get “overwritten“ manipulated and Ricky as the only one who gets tortured cause he resist against.

Well, the artist is pretty young but dude he could look into my mind. He drew exactly what was in my mind. I will 1000% try to get him to do the next one :D. His name is Noviar Rahmat.

Does Empiresfall have opportunities to play live?

We always try to take every chance to play live. And we really hope that we will have the chance to tour Europe this year.

Do you think that people will be able to hear the complete album?

Our new record was already played several times on webradio shows in germany, the U.S. and Great Britain and some other countries. That’s all we know by now. Just a few weeks and everyone will have the opportunity to hear our stuff. So please hold on. :)

Do you want to mention something that I have not asked about? Thanks for your time!

Thank you very much for your nice questions. To all metal maniacs out there, please check us out and try to check every other band on this planet out. Support the underground. It’s important!!!